Town Hall News

By Pavel Polityuk KYIV (Reuters) – Russia said on Monday it was battling a cross-border incursion by saboteurs who burst through the frontier from Ukraine, in what appeared to be one of the biggest attacks of its kind since the war began last year. A senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv had nothing to do with the incursion in Russia’s Belgorod region, putting it down to Russia’s […]

ROME (Reuters) – Luxury goods group LVMH and carmaker Stellantis have each donated 1 million euros ($1.10 million) to support flood relief efforts in northern Italy, the Emilia-Romagna region said on Monday. Floods killed 14 people last week in Emilia-Romagna as torrential rain caused more than 20 rivers to burst their banks, sending water cascading through towns and submerging thousands of acres of particularly fertile farmland. Stellantis’ Maserati brand is […]

(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp evaded a potential early legal obstacle in its $69 billion deal to acquire “Call of Duty” videogame maker Activision Blizzard Inc, when a U.S. judge on Friday refused to allow gamers in a private suit to preliminarily block the acquisition. The private plaintiffs sued Microsoft in California federal court in December to enjoin the deal, which they called harmful to competition. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott […]

(Reuters) -The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Monday that a Ukrainian ‘sabotage group’ had entered Russian territory in the Graivoron district bordering Ukraine, and was being repelled by Russian forces. However, the Ukrainian outlet Hromadske cited Ukrainian military intelligence as saying two armed Russian opposition groups, the Liberty of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), both consisting of Russian citizens, had carried out the attack. The […]

By Chris Prentice and Nell Mackenzie NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -Unease over how U.S. debt ceiling negotiations will pan out gripped global markets on Monday, with equities mixed and U.S. treasury yields modestly higher. Oil futures were higher as demand optimism offset the default concerns. Gold prices retreated following hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official. U.S. President Joe Biden and House Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet to discuss the […]

By Richard Cowan, David Morgan and Nandita Bose WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet on Monday to discuss raising the federal government’s debt ceiling, just 10 days before the United States could face an unprecedented default. The Democratic president and the speaker of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will meet after 4:30 p.m. ET (2030 GMT), sources said. Any deal to […]

By Luc Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave a big boost to two developers and a former state university official convicted of fraud in 2018 for rigging bids for one of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature projects, the latest reversal for the Justice Department in a major corruption inquiry. The justices threw out lower court decisions upholding the convictions of Steven Aiello, […]

By Timothy Gardner (Reuters) – A transgender Mississippi girl declined to participate in high school graduation on Saturday after a U.S. District Judge said the school district could bar her unless she dressed in clothes required for boys, a lawyer for the girl said. U.S. District Judge Taylor McNeel, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump, said in filing late on Friday after a hearing that he would not […]

(Reuters) -Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group Inc will acquire independent investment bank Greenhill & Co Inc in an all-cash transaction, in a bid to expand further into U.S. investment banking. Mizuho will pay $15 per share of Greenhill in cash, reflecting an enterprise value of about $550 million, including assumed debt, the companies said in a joint statement on Monday. The deal announcement prompted Greenhill shares to more than double to […]